Problems with external monitor display using HDMI output. Optimus technology

Sebastian

Sebastian

Messages
1,097
Name
Sebastian
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi guys,

I have recently bought new laptop with i7 2nd gen processor and nVidia Geforce GT 550M card with Optimus technology.

I am using external monitor, LaCie 324.

Previously, on my old laptop, I was using digital DVI connection to connect to my monitor. I was very happy with image quality, sharpness and resolution. It was working on full 1920 x 1200.

On my new laptop I only have HDMI and VGA outputs. When connecting through HDMI, I can only get 1920 x 1080.
The quality of display is, in my opinion, lower, less sharp... It might be possible that I got used to 1200 px...
Also, colour rendition seems to be "different". Hard to describe really.

I have updated both drivers (for Intel on-chip and Geforce card), set the highest colour and frequency settings.
I have even bought a new high quality HDMI cable... but nothing changed.

I'm struggling to understand what's going on here.
  • Is it resolution (lower, so it looks less sharp),
  • graphics card (on-chip card cannot deliver both resolution and quality comparing to nVidia that "sleeps" because of Optimus technology)
  • or cable (unlikely)?

What are your experiences with external monitors connected through HDMI?
Any similar problems?
 
The best image is ALWAYS obtained by using the native resolution of the monitor. If 1920x1200 is better than 1920x1080, it's likely your native resolution is 1920x1200. With HDMI, the monitor communicates with the PC to understand what resolution is supported. For whatever reason, this may not be working 100%. You can normally force the GPU to select resolutions that the monitor doesn't support. With your Optimus GPU, this may not work properly (my Optimus laptop doesn't display video correctly if it's set on internal gfx only). Make sure you have the resolution set correctly and if it isn't look for a "show unsupported resolutions" type menu entry. Select the 1920x1200 @ 60Hz and see how it goes from there.

HTH
 
Do you know if there is any way of switching off Optimus?

Yes, the native resolution for LaCie 324 is 1920 x1200, but on my PS3, when working on 1080p, it looks good. Better than now, connected to my laptop.

I have forced 1920 x 1200, 59 and 60Hz in unsupported menu, but it looks terrible (blurry).
The max supported resolution is, :] , 1920 x 1080 60Hz.
Thinking what to do now...
 
Heh... I've just tried good old vga, works perfectly at the highest resolution.
 
You can turn off optimus in the Nvidia settings. On the 3D section, set it to internal graphics only (yes, I know that's counter intuitive, but it seems to work for me).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top